


I Only Think About You if it's Raining (or it's Not)

by haleonwheels



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Best Friends, Drug Use, First Kiss, First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Derek, Pack Feels, Same Age Derek, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 22:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15326121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haleonwheels/pseuds/haleonwheels
Summary: Stiles is Derek’s best friend and he just does not understand why people keep acting like they’re in love or something.Until he does._____Another High School AU that no one asked for.





	I Only Think About You if it's Raining (or it's Not)

**Author's Note:**

> the lack of angst in this is honestly laughable just as a head's up
> 
> (if i could tag oblivious derek 10 times i would)
> 
> i was feeling antsy and wanted to post something as asap as possible so i split it into parts. part two will be much more action packed (@the rating) and will most definitely be longer. stay tuned!
> 
> title is from jolene by the weepies

**From Stiles 5:58 PM: 2 min dude 2 min**

**From Stiles 5:59 PM: 1 MINUTE**

**From Stiles 6:00 PM: OK ITS 6 ARE YOU HOME YET ARE YOU HOME**

**To Stiles 6:01 PM: i said 6 ish stiles emphasis on the ish**

“How much longer?” Derek asks from passenger seat of the Laura’s Camaro. He looks out the window to try and recognize the scenery but after being away all summer, he can’t quite place where they are.

“Tell Stiles to be patient, we’ll be home in 15 minutes,” Laura smiles at the road in front of her. She’s evil.

“I dunno… think he can keep it in his pants for that much longer?” Cora asks from the backseat.  Evil, evil, evil.

“Very good point, Cora, his boy _has_ been in a foreign country for 3 months…” Laura responds. Derek rolls his eyes.

“Canada is _not_ a foreign country.”

**From Stiles 6:03 PM: OK OK TELL ME WHEN U GET TO BH AND ILL HEAD OVER**

**From Stiles 6:03 PM: im not excited. i didnt miss u at all**

**From Stiles 6:04 PM: IT HURTS TO EVEN JOKE ABT IT IM WAITING IN MY JEEP**

Derek feels his face break into a smile against his will. He’ll admit that he’s just as excited to see Stiles as Stiles seems to be to see him. Derek just spent three months in his uncle’s mansion in the Canadian wilderness with his sisters and, of course, Uncle Peter who, after three months of 24/7 quality time, still creeps Derek out. He’s really excited to sleep in his own bed and to get ready for school in two days. And to see his best friend.

“I can see you smiling out of the corner of my eye and it’s freaking me out,” Laura says. Derek punches her shoulder. “Don’t hit the driver!”

“Quit being the worst,” Derek says while he nuzzles up against the window.

“Ok, ok,” Laura says. “Sorry, Der.”

“But since you already know I’m the worst,” Cora pipes up from the back seat. “I can keep teasing you, right?”

“Fuck off,” Derek mutters.

“Oh my god, I’m so ready to be home,” Laura says.

***

When the Hale siblings get home, Derek gives himself a couple minutes to say hi to his parents and bring his bags upstairs before giving in and telling Stiles to come over.

Derek starts to pace around his room, fixing his shirt and his hair and--oh, god, he can still feel the airplane scent lingering in his clothes, but before he has time to think about changing, his phones buzzes.

**From Stiles 6:17 PM: ALMOST THEREE**

**To Stiles 6:17 PM: no texting while driving**

Derek is honestly shaking. He hasn’t seen his best friend in three fucking _months_ , okay? He’s really excited to see him. And a little nervous, but that’s completely normal. He starts to run down the stairs, but composes himself before anyone can sense the eagerness radiating off of him. He’s standing in his doorway, watching the lone road that winds through the preserve, when an electric blue Jeep screeches into sight. Derek scoffs and shakes his head. One of these days Stiles is gonna slam into a tree in Derek’s front yard.

Thankfully, today is not that day and he watches as Stiles comes to a messy stop in the middle of the Hale’s driveway.

Derek is frozen in his place as he lays his eyes on Stiles through the Jeep’s windshield, fucking _beaming_ at him, and Derek laughs when he hears Stiles shrieking from inside the car.

“DEREK HALE,” Stiles yells as he falls out of his Jeep, ever-so-gracefully. He flies up the steps to the porch and throws himself at Derek before he can get so much as a _Hi_ out. Derek basically sees his life flash before his eyes and then he’s on his back on the porch, Stiles a heavy weight on his chest, their legs almost intertwined.

“I’m so happy you’re home, dude,” Stiles says from where his face is nuzzled into Derek’s shirt.

“I’m happy to be home,” Derek says, laughing.

“Okay, I’m gonna get off you now,” Stiles says, standing up. As he reaches out a hand to help Derek up, Derek gets his first real look at his best friend in 3 months.

His hair is a little longer, and it looks _really_ good, but other than that, he’s the Stiles that Derek said goodbye to all those weeks ago. And that makes something warm spread throughout Derek’s stomach.

“Man, I can’t believe it’s you! It’s _Derek_ !” Stiles says, his big, warm eyes sizing Derek up in a way that only Stiles is allowed to. “Dude, I have _so_ much to tell y--Laura!” Stiles interrupts himself, running past Derek into the house.

Derek turns to watch the interaction--Stiles speeds toward Laura as if he’s getting ready to leap into her arms, but she just holds out a single finger in front of her.

“Stiles…” Laura says, in a warning tone. Stiles heels like an actual dog and adjusts his shirt. He clears his throat and sticks his hand out for a handshake.

“Laura,” Stiles says with mock maturity. “Pleasant seeing you again.”

Laura just laughs and pulls him into a hug. They embrace tightly and Derek’s heart clenches at the sight. Derek’s known Stiles for two years, since they met on the first day of freshman year, and he knows how important family is to him. Since it’s just Stiles and his dad, the Hales have become like a second family to him and he loves Laura and Cora like he would his own sisters.

“Missed ya, kiddo,” Laura says, pulling away from the hug. “How was your summer?”

“Fucking awful,” Stiles groans. He leans in close like he’s about to tell her a secret. “I don’t know if you know this, but… Beacon Hills is, like, really boring.”

Derek huffs and Laura laughs.

“Don’t worry, Derek missed you, too,” she says.

“Oh my _god_ , he wouldn’t shut up about you,” Cora whines from where she’s reading on the couch. Stiles laughs and goes to sit down next to her.

“Oh, really?” Stiles asks, intrigued. “Tell me more, dear sister.” Cora rolls her eyes.

“Every time you called, we would hear about it for _days_ ,” Cora tells him, turning her page. “ _Stiles is doing this, Stiles says that, Stiles, Stiles, Stiles._ ”

“Thanks, Cora,” Derek deadpans from where he’s still standing in the doorway. Stiles laughs again and gives him a look. Derek feels like he needs to squirm.

“Don’t worry, dude. Scott’ll probably tell you the same exact thing. That’s what best friends do,” Stiles says easily.

Laura snorts at this and Derek tries his best to give her a _do you have a problem?_ look. She just rolls her eyes.

***

Since it’s a Friday night, it’s family dinner at the Hale house, which means Derek’s dad, Adam, cooks a huge meal and Stiles joins, making easy conversation with Derek’s family.

“So, how was your summer, Stiles?” Adam asks as they dig into the homemade meal. Stiles moans into the mashed potatoes before sitting up straight to answer Mr. Hale.

“Pretty awful, actually,” Stiles replies with a smile. “I have no idea what I did for the first 14 years of my life before I knew Derek.”

Derek feels his face start to redden at the mention of his name, even though he’s with only family. Talia and Adam chuckle at Stiles’ answer and start to discuss the school year that’s starting in just a couple days.

When they’re done eating, Derek feels Stiles kick his foot under the table. Derek gives him a look, but Stiles just looks ahead, smiling.

“Um, we’re gonna go to my room, now,” Derek says, interrupting whatever conversation he wasn’t paying attention to.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to have boys in our rooms,” Cora teases. Adam snorts.

“Stiles is an exception,” Talia says, not picking up Cora’s joking tone. “You know this already, Cora.”

“So I can have Stiles in my room?” Cora asks, trying not to laugh.

“Ah, I missed this,” Stiles says, clapping a hand to Derek’s shoulder. Derek just rolls his eyes and leads them up to his room.

They collapse onto Derek’s bed, lying with their heads at opposite ends.

“Holy fuck, I’m stuffed,” Stiles groans. “The worst part of you being away all summer was definitely missing your dad’s Friday night dinners.” Derek huffs a quiet laugh, and then sits up to look at Stiles.

“So, you have a lot to tell me? You were saying before you tried to accost my sister--”

“Oh my god, dude!” Stiles says, sitting up fast. “Okay, get this. Allison and Lydia.”

Derek tilts his head, waiting for Stiles to continue. “Yeah?”

“No, _Allison and Lydia_ ,” Stiles repeats. “Emphasis on the _and_.”

Derek drops his jaw, his eyes bugging out. “Wait, seriously? They’re together?”

Stiles nods frantically. “Yeah, Scott told me a week ago, but I had to tell you in person, dude, ‘cause this is _news_.”

“Yeah, holy shit.”

“Apparently they’ve been in love with each other since they _met_ freshman year.”

“Wow.”

“ _Yeah_. Okay. First of all,” Stiles lays it out for him, “They owe literally everything to us since we’re basically the reason they met.” Derek thinks about that.

He and Stiles were assigned to sit next to each other on the first day of their advanced math class freshman year. They instantly became friends when Derek complemented Stiles’ Dr. Who pencil case (which Stiles now denies ever having) and they’ve basically spent every second together since. They each had their own friend groups from their middle schools; Derek had Lydia and Erica and Boyd and Isaac, while Stiles had Scott and Allison and Kira. When Stiles and Derek became joined at the hip, so did their friends. They’ve been one big happy family ever since.

“Well, technically, they owe it to Mr. Medina for sitting us next to each other,” Derek corrects. Stiles dismisses him with a wave of his hands.

“ _Anyways_ ,” Stiles says, getting back to his point. “Can you imagine?! They’ve been in love with each other for _two fucking years_. Isn’t that crazy?!”

“Yeah, that’s insane.”

“Yeah!” Stiles continues. “Isn’t it hilarious? That mine and Scott’s old freshman year crushes end up together? Like, we were both convinced we would marry them and the four of us would grow old together.”

“Well, that could still happen if you marry Scott,” Derek jokingly points out.

Stiles pretends to gag. Derek laughs, shaking his head.

“Well… wow. That’s great for them,” Derek says, his laughter subsiding. “So they’re like, girlfriends now?”

“Yup,” Stiles nods.

Stiles lays back down on the bed and Derek mimics his movement.

“I can’t believe we’re gonna be juniors in two days,” Stiles says to the ceiling.

“I know,” Derek agrees.

Stiles slaps Derek’s hand. “Can you believe we met _two years ago_? Freshman year feels like it was literally yesterday.”

Derek nods even though Stiles can’t actually see him. Personally, Derek feels like he’s known Stiles his whole life, but, whatever. He gets what Stiles means.

They lay there in a comfortable silence for a couple moments until Stiles sits up again, demanding to know every single detail about Derek’s summer. Derek reminds him that they spoke almost every day, but Stiles dismisses him, saying that it’s different. Derek agrees, but still he tells Stiles he’s ridiculous.

***

The next night is the last true night of summer, with school starting the day after tomorrow. The “pack,” as Erica insists they call themselves, decides to take advantage of this, so they all get together in their spot--the abandoned parking lot on the edge of town.

Kira just got back from her summer in Japan yesterday and Isaac got home earlier that day from his summer in Boston with his aunt, so it’s the first time everyone is together after a summer of being too far apart.

Erica and Boyd, being the only two who can really pass for over 21, use their fakes to buy _way_ too much booze while Scott brings his bowl and the last of his sizeable stash of weed. Allison and Kira build a bonfire while everyone else watches (‘cause hell if they’re gonna get in their way).

Without any thought, they all just arrange themselves in a circle around the fire, passing around the bottles of JD and Scott’s pipe while everyone just talks. Derek is sitting between Scott on one side and Allison and Lydia on the other.

He can’t help but watch out of the corner of his eye as Lydia leans back on her hands and stretches her legs out so Allison can crawl into her lap and lean against her chest. It’s so simple, but so mind-numbingly sweet. They don’t even talk about it, their bodies just _know_ how to move around each other. Derek’s starting to feel lightheaded when Scott bumps their shoulders together, getting his attention.

“So, how was Canada?” Scott asks as he passes the packed bowl to Isaac next to him. Derek hasn’t gotten a chance to get close with Scott like he has with Stiles, but he’s has spent enough time with Scott and Allison and Kira to trust them and feel comfortable around them (which is infamously not Derek’s strong suit). Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Stiles really loves them, and Derek really loves Stiles, so… transitive property and all that.

“It was good, man,” Derek responds, looking into the fire. “I mean, as good as being stuck in the middle of nowhere with your two sisters and creepy uncle can be.” Scott laughs. Allison taps Derek’s arm and passes him the whiskey. He takes his third or fourth swig and lets the burning feeling run down his throat before he passes it on to Scott. “But, it really was great. Happy to be home, and…” Derek trails off, not sure where he’s going. His mind is feeling cloudy from the alcohol and the overwhelming warmth of being with his friends again. Scott clears his throat.

“He really missed you, y’know,” Scott says, loud enough for only Derek to hear.

Derek knows. Derek knows who Scott is talking about and he knows just how much he missed him because Derek missed him _more_. But he still feels himself furrow his eyebrows and ask, “Who?”

Scott just stares at Derek, searches his face for something, and then shrugs and looks into the fire.

Derek can’t help it, he flicks his eyes over to where Stiles is sitting a couple people away from him. Stiles exhales smoke and then tilts his head back, laughing an all-body laugh at something Kira says. Derek can’t take his eyes off of him. Stiles’ pale skin and warm brown eyes are lit up by the fire and he’s all summer and boyhood and carefree. Derek feels his breath stop for a second at the beauty of it.

As he stares, he hears Lydia’s voice to his right. She must be trying to speak only to Allison, but a little too drunk to control her volume.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lydia says into Allison’s ear. Allison’s body tightens like she feels too big for her skin and Derek can hear her smile when she speaks.

“Stop it, oh my god,” Allison says back.

“Sue me, I think my girlfriend is a living piece of art,” Lydia replies, speaking into Allison’s neck.

Derek’s eyes flick back to Scott, who’s looking at him again.

“I’m just saying, dude… he missed you,” Scott says again. “Like, _a lot_. Like, he talked about you every day. All summer.”

Derek just shrugs, looking into the fire once more.

“He’s my best friend,” Derek says.

***

School starts up again and, while junior year is already kicking Derek’s ass, it’s nice to fall back into a routine and see his friends every day.

Derek is on his way to class one day when he catches someone gesticulating wildly out of the corner of his eye. His face breaks out into a grin as he walks over to where Scott and Stiles are bickering quietly beside a row of lockers.

“What’s up?” Derek asks when he’s close enough.

The two stop whisper-fighting and quickly turn to look at Derek. Stiles looks like a deer caught in headlights, while Scott recovers much faster.

“Hey, man, uh, Stiles is trying to decide if he should… try to set his dad up with this woman he knows,” Scott says, sounding slightly unsure of his own words.

Derek turns to look at Stiles.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Stiles blinks at Scott, avoiding Derek’s eyes.

“Yeah. There’s this woman the Sheriff is _always_ talking about and they spend all their time together… at the station… and I’m trying to tell Stiles that he should tell the Sheriff to just go for it,” Scott explains. Derek thinks for a second.

“Do you want him to be with someone? I mean, is that something you want--”

“Yes,” Stiles answers, almost too quickly. “It’d be fine.”

“It would be just what he needs,” Scott says with a weird emphasis. Stiles shoots him a glare. Derek is definitely missing something, but he usually is when it comes to Scott and Stiles. “Unless you don’t want him to be happy…”

“Yeah, if you’re okay with it and they’re really as close as you think, tell him to go for it. I mean what’s the worst that could happen?” Derek asks.

Stiles’ eyebrows furrow.

“She could shoot him down.”

“Right, but then he’ll know,” Derek replies. “And even then, if their friendship is strong enough, it should be fine.”

Stiles smiles at Derek, a small smile that feels like it was signed, sealed, and delivered just for him. Scott slaps Stiles on the arm.

“See?” Stiles rolls his eyes at Scott, who turns his attention to Derek a little too suddenly. “What about you, Derek?”

“Hm?”

“Any romance on your horizons?”

Derek freezes, tries to subtly size Scott up.

“No, I’m uh,” Derek finds himself trying really hard not to glance over at Stiles. “I’m not really a romance kinda guy.”

“Even if the right person were to, say, present themselves to you?” Scott shifts his weight between his feet. Derek can’t hold in the sardonic laugh.

“The odds of that happening are slim to none,” Derek jokes, letting his eyes flick over to Stiles. “And even if they did, I don’t… I like things the way they are, y’know? Why change them.”

Derek means what he says, even if he’s surprised at his ability to get the words out. He likes his life, really _really_ likes his friends, and the idea of risking what he has by throwing someone new into the mix makes his body tense up. And he can’t help but think of how it would affect his relationship with Stiles, the most important thing in his life.

Scott pats Derek on the back.

“Well boys, as enlightening as this has been, I gotta jet.”

“Yeah, I should probably head to class, too,” Stiles says, his mood suddenly suspiciously sour.

“I’ll walk with you,” Derek offers. They both wave a quick “bye” to Scott and turn to head in the other direction.

“Derek, your class is on the other side of the school.”

“So? We have time,” Derek says. _And I don’t want to leave you yet_.

Stiles nods and looks ahead of them, smiling.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Stiles says. “But if you get your first detention ever for being late to class, do not blame it on me when Talia is grounding you.”

Derek rolls his eyes and they head off in the direction of Stiles’ class.

Derek tries not to spend the entire next period wondering how he and Stiles memorized each other’s schedules this soon into the new school year.

***

That weekend, Boyd is in Derek’s room, an empty pizza box lying on the floor in between them where they sit at the foot of Derek’s bed. The TV’s on, but Derek’s having trouble paying attention. He can’t stop thinking about the conversation he had with Scott and Stiles a couple days ago.

“Hey, your mom’s single, right?” Derek asks suddenly. Boyd slowly turns to look at him, giving Derek a second to hear what just came out of his mouth. “No, no! Not for me, jesus.”

“Okay…” Boyd gives him a suspicious look. “Yeah, she is. Why?”

“Scott and Stiles were arguing the other day about Stiles wanting to set the Sheriff up with some woman from the station.”

“Yeah?”

“Is that… kinda weird?”

Boyd thinks for a beat.

“I mean I would rather die than involve myself in my mom’s romantic life, but Stiles is pretty close with his dad, y’know.”

“Yeah,” Derek considers. “I dunno, maybe it was just the way they were talking about it that was weird.” Derek plays the conversation over in his head, remembering how strange Scott and Stiles were both acting.

“What did they--”

Before Boyd can ask for the recap, there’s a harsh knock at the window. Derek looks over and sees Stiles, begging to be let in.

“Jesus christ,” Boyd mutters. Derek lets out a shaky laugh and goes over to the window. When he opens it, Stiles, who must have been leaning a little too hard on the glass, tumbles through the frame onto Derek’s carpet. And, coincidentally, reeks of vodka.

“Stiles?” Derek kneels down to where Stiles is rolled into a ball on his floor.

Stiles lifts his head wearily, groaning, but breaks into a smile when his eyes focus on Derek.

“D’rek!” Stiles says a little too loudly for the time of night. “M so happy to find you. Took me… for… ever.” Derek notices that Stiles is panting.

“Did you run here?” Stiles nods, eyes wide. “From where?”

“Boyd’s!” Stiles answers when he takes a quick survey of the room

“No… Boyd is here,” Derek says slowly, sharing a look with Boyd.

“No, I’m _Stiles_ ,” Stiles tries to outsmart him.

“Holy shit, he’s hammered,” Boyd says. He checks Derek’s phone where it’s lying next to him and nods. “Yeah, oops, you have like six missed calls from Scott. And a text saying that Stiles is headed here.”

Derek rolls his eyes.

“Scott!” Stiles says enthusiastically. Derek tries to stand Stiles up, but he falters a bit too much and Boyd catches him before he hits the bed.

Stiles looks up into Boyd’s face and smiles brightly.

“You are a very handsome young man, has anyone ever told you that?” Stiles says sloppily, bopping Boyd on the tip of his nose.

“Yeah, you, Stiles,” Boyd responds, rolling his eyes before he gently places Stiles at the foot of the bed. “Literally every time you’re drunk.”

“Wha! Don’t take that tone with me!” Stiles feigns offense, quickly bringing one of his hands to his heart. “I can’t help that I have model friends! You try being me, then we talk…”

Derek laughs and sits down next to Stiles on the bed.

“You’re attractive, too, Stiles,” Derek says. Stiles’ eyes widen and he is suddenly plopping himself in Derek’s lap, wrapping his arms around Derek’s shoulders.

“You really think so, really?”

Boyd’s turned back to the TV by now, turning up the volume as he shifts his focus.

“Tell me more,” Stiles says, batting his eyelashes. Derek huffs.

“Nice try, but I gotta get you home.”

Stiles wraps his hands tighter around Derek.

“But I wanna stay! I wanna sleep over!”

“I know you do, but my parents can’t find you here in the morning,” Derek says, slowly standing and carefully bringing Stiles with him. “And I’m assuming your dad doesn’t know you’re out.”

“Hmmf, fine,” Stiles pouts.

Boyd gets up as well, offering his hand for Stiles.

“I’ll drive him home.”

“You sure?” Derek doesn’t know why he feels so hesitant. Why he doesn’t want to let go of Stiles. “You don’t have to, you can wait here if you want.”

“No, I’ll go. You stay in case your parents check in. You’re better at lying.”

Derek rears back. “Says who!”

Boyd gives him a flat look, glancing at Stiles pointedly before returning to Derek.

Derek just squints at him, not quite understanding, but finding himself releasing Stiles to Boyd’s care.

Derek just watches as Boyd leads Stiles, who is mostly asleep at this point, to the bedroom door. Once Derek hears the front door shut quietly, he relaxes and finds something new to watch. He tries his hardest not to think about Stiles running the couple of miles between his and Scott’s houses. Just to see him. At 12:30 at night.

Boyd’s been gone for a good 15 minutes when Derek gets a text from him. He opens it to find a video of Stiles. It looks like Stiles is curled up in the passenger seat of Boyd’s car, parked outside the Stilinski house. Derek presses play, turns the volume up, and immediately blushes.

Stiles is singing _Baby_ by Justin Bieber, but saying Derek’s name instead. His eyes are closed since the world is most definitely spinning around him, but he’s smiling in his forearm where his face is resting.

Derek knows Stiles is drunk and it’s just one of those silly things someone does when intoxicated. Still, Derek can’t help the butterflies in his stomach when Stiles keeps singing way past what’s actually in the song.

When Boyd gets back, they don’t say anything about it. They just start a new episode and eventually fall asleep. Well, Boyd does. Derek can’t seem to stop smiling.

***

After school on Monday, Stiles and Derek sit in Stiles’ room with their copies of _The Iliad_ out and are taking turns reading out loud to each other like fourth graders. Since Derek is in AP English and Stiles is in Honors, Derek’s class is ahead in _The Iliad_ by 5 or 6 books. However, Stiles is pretty self conscious about his slow reading and Derek would never turn down a chance to read about the Trojan War so, here he is, listening to Stiles read to him about Achilles and Patroclus and he is totally not complaining.

A couple pages into Book 14, Stiles stops reading to interrupt himself.

“Did you know Achilles was gay?”

“What?” Derek’s mind was still in _The Iliad_ , moving fast to try and keep up with Stiles’.

“Achilles was gay… homosexual, queer, took it up--”

“Oh my god, Stiles.”

“He was!” Stiles puts down his book and sits up straight on the bed. “Classicists say so! He was absolutely fucking Patroclus.”

“Oh, come on,” Derek tries to pick his book back up, but Stiles stops him.

“No, you’re right, Patroclus was definitely the one fucking Achilles,” Stiles corrects himself. Derek can’t help but laugh at Stiles’ conviction, stubborn per usual.

“He did! He totally bottomed!” Stiles pretends to hit Derek with his book when he won’t stop laughing. “Don’t laugh at me, you dick.”

“I would never laugh at you, come on.”

Stiles looks at Derek, his expression unrecognizable to Derek.

“Even if I told you I was, too?”

Derek chokes on his own tongue and loses his breath for a quick second.

“A bottom?!”

“No, asshole, I’m telling you I’m gay.” Stiles actually hits him with his book this time, a little too forcefully, if Derek says so himself. “Well, bi, but still, fuck you.”

“Oh,” Derek tries to choose his words carefully. It feels like his mind still isn’t moving fast enough to keep up with Stiles.

“Is that a bad ‘oh?’” Stiles asks, almost tentatively. “‘Cause you know I could have you killed. Like, my dad could definitely shoot you dead if need be.”

“This has got to be the most aggressive coming out ever.”

Stiles just glares at Derek from the other side of the bed. Derek’s mind starts to catch up to the conversation and he realizes how important this is to Stiles. He moves across the mattress so he’s sitting in front of Stiles. He crosses his legs to mimic Stiles’ position and their knees lightly graze each other.

“Stiles, of course I’m okay with it,” Derek says, trying to be as earnest as possible. “And I’m sorry if I did anything to make you doubt that. You’re my best friend and nothing could change that… ever.”

Stiles meets Derek’s eyes after dancing around the room for a moment and a small smile creeps across his face.

“Wow, that was a lot of emotional intimacy, Derek Hale.”

“Okay, now who’s being the dick.”

Stiles puts his hands up defensively and picks up his book again. While he’s finding his place on the page, Derek’s heart starts to beat sickeningly fast. He feels the words creeping up his throat like vomit, his body ready to say what he himself is not so sure about.

“I’m, too,” Derek says, a little too quiet. Stiles looks up to him, puts his finger on the page to hold his place.

“Too what?”

Something clicks in Derek’s brain when he looks into Stiles’ eyes. He’s had a feeling he was gay for a while now, and hearing Stiles say it out loud and then look at him like they’re even closer than before makes him realize he owes it to himself and to Stiles to say it out loud, too.

“No, I’m… too. Also.” Stiles raises an eyebrow.

“A homo?”

Derek huffs out the breath he was holding in and nods, rolling his eyes

“All right, high five!” Stiles says enthusiastically, raising his hand.

“I’m not high fiving you over this, idiot.”

Stiles laughs and puts his hand down. He looks at Derek, tilting his head like he’s thinking.

“Thank you for telling me,” he says, voice more tame than seconds before. “I know communication isn’t your strong suit.”

Derek rolls his eyes and picks up his book, ready to get back to reading and away from this intimate conversation.

“So straight up gay, huh?” Stiles, however, has other plans. “Not bi, like yours truly?”

Derek wants to blow off the question, but he can sense how nervous Stiles is and he decides to humor him.

“Nope, just guys for me,” Derek responds. Stiles sighs in relief.

“That is such good news.”

“Uh…”

“‘Cause I don’t have to compete with you for girls.” Derek just continues to look curiously at Stiles, completely unsure of what he is expected to say to that. “Come on, who would go for this sarcastic 147 pound bag of bones when they could have you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Stiles gives him a flat look. Derek feels a blush begin to creep up his back and neck.

“Derek.”

“What!”

“Dude, have you ever even looked at yourself?”

“Not technically, no--”

“I’m just saying--”

“ _I’m_ just saying you’re not nearly as unattractive as you think you are,” Derek tells Stiles. Does Stiles actually think that lowly of himself? If it were considered normal, Derek would take Stiles’ face in his hands and scream at him until he understands how beautiful he is.

“That doesn’t really mean much, relatively speaking,” Stiles says. Derek just shakes his head.

“Okay, I tried. Again.” Derek tries once more to steer them back to their homework. This time, Stiles lets him. Almost.

Stiles is reading out loud again when he reaches some dialogue. Instead of reading what Patroclus is saying, he says, “Can I ask you something weird?”

It takes Derek a beat to realize it’s Stiles speaking and not the characters in the poem. When he does catch onto what’s happening, he looks up at Stiles fidgeting.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well, okay, don’t freak out or anything, just say no if the answer is no.” Stiles’ eyes meet Derek’s momentarily before he looks away again. “It’s completely absolutely fine to say no.”

“Okay…”

“We… I don’t know, this thought just kinda came to me that we could be each other’s first kisses.”

Derek’s breath catches in his throat. His stomach flips and his eyebrows furrow and he feels completely stuck.

“Okay, I made everything weird,” Stiles puts his head down, pretending to look deep into his book, as if he could hide there from this moment.

“No, no, no, I just--”

“Forget I said anything, really, let’s just keep reading.” Stiles starts to read again, picking up where they left off, but Derek’s body screams _no_.

Before he can stop himself, he’s leaning over the books on their laps and pressing his lips onto Stiles’. He hears (and _feels_ ) Stiles make a noise of surprise, but he doesn’t pull away.

It’s _weird_. Derek came in too fast so it’s more of a collision than a kiss. He tries to soften the embrace and starts to subconsciously bring a hand up to Stiles’ cheek. When he realizes what he’s doing, he pulls away.

Stiles opens his eyes cautiously and just stares at Derek.

“Oh…”

Derek can’t help but laugh.

“That’s all you have to say?”

“Uh…”

“Oh, my god,” Derek whispers.

“What?”

“You’re _speechless_.”

“I am not!” Stiles straightens his back, his usual stubborn expression finding its way back to his face.

“You’re fucking speechless.”

“Well--you--you just--”

“Honest to god, I never thought that I would see this,” Derek teases. “It’s a little weird.”

“Well what the fuck do you expect me to say, you just shoved your tongue down my throat!”

“Okay, first of all,” Derek ignores the heat spreading across his skin, “there was no tongue--”

“It’s an expression.”

“Not one that describes what we just did.” Stiles rolls his eyes. “And second of all, you literally asked me to.”

Stiles doesn’t respond, he just stares at him. Derek subconsciously licks his lips, only realizing when he sees Stiles track the movement with an expression that could almost be described as insatiable.

Why does it suddenly feel like there’s no air in the room?

There are footsteps outside Stiles’ room as the Sheriff walks by the closed door. The sound brings the boys back to reality and they pick up their books simultaneously.

“ _Iliad?_ ” Stiles asks.

“ _Iliad._ ”

***

The following day, Derek is sitting with Lydia in study hall. Derek should really be working on his English homework--he has a _huge_ presentation later in the week that he’s been refusing to think about--but he pulls out his math homework instead. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not finish this math assignment after he got home last night and it’s due next period. His mind was somewhere else completely. Somewhere Stiles adjacent, maybe. Maybe not.

Even though they’re in the same math level, Lydia leans over every couple of minutes to look over Derek’s shoulder. She starts to offer him advice even though every time, without fail, Derek fixes her with a look and tells her _no, thank you_.

She starts to say something and, this time, Derek snaps.

“Oh my god, shut up,” he whisper-yells. Lydia just purses her lips and shrugs, leaning away from him.

“I was just gonna ask your opinion on the whole Heather thing,” she mutters too loud for it to be just to herself. He can’t help it, it peaks Derek’s interest.

“What Heather thing?”

Lydia squints at him and closely examines Derek’s expression.

“The Heather and Stiles… thing…” She starts to trail off when she realizes Derek has no idea what she’s talking about. “Shit, ignore me.”

Derek puts his pen down and turns to face her fully.

“No, what happened?”

“Nothing! I shouldn’t have said anything.” Lydia tries to return to her work, but feels Derek’s glare. “She just asked him out, is all.”

Oh.

Derek sputters for a second, momentarily dissociating from the conversation. He finds himself back in Stiles’ room last night, their lips pressed together. He shakes his head and clears his thoughts.

“And he said yes?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I was asking you. I thought maybe he’d told you what he decided to say.”

“Why didn’t he tell me?” Derek wonders out loud, definitely by accident. He sincerely hopes Lydia keeps whatever answer she has to herself.

“I fucked up, I’m sorry, hon.” She gently touches his arm. He just waves it off.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Derek lies--poorly, he knows. “I mean, we were together all afternoon yesterday, but… I guess there wasn’t a chance for him to bring it up?”

Lydia nods somewhat enthusiastically, a sympathetic look in her eyes. Derek appreciates it, sure, but he really just wants the moment to end.

They go back to their work, but it lingers in the air between them. Derek sighs and turns to Lydia, rolling his eyes.

“Fine, help me with this problem?”

Lydia snaps to look at him.

“I knew it!”

***

Stiles doesn’t mention anything about Heather. They’re having lunch the next day and once they’ve been talking for a solid twenty minutes without Heather coming up at all, Derek starts to think that Stiles may never tell him.

He keeps staring at Stiles from where he’s sitting next to him. He’s completely out of it, wondering why Stiles is suddenly keeping something from him; or, worse, if this isn’t even the first thing Stiles has kept from him. His heartbeat starts to skyrocket as he plays their entire friendship over in his head, over analyzing every memory.

“Dude, what is up with you?” Stiles asks, interrupting himself. Derek was definitely not being as subtle as he thought he was. He laughs nervously.

“I was just thinking,” Derek says, waving him off.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, just--”

“Oh shit, you have that presentation on Friday, don’t you?”

And with that, all thoughts of Heather leave his mind. Derek nods slowly.

Derek--inarticulate, awkward, shy-in-front-of-people-who-aren’t-Stiles Derek--has to give a presentation on Book 21 of _The Iliad_ to all four sections of AP English _and any guests they bring_. It’s the biggest assignment of the semester.

“Your family’s coming, right?” Stiles asks.

Derek shakes his head.

“Really?” Stiles puts his sandwich down. “They’re usually all over shit like this.”

“Yeah, they have to work, and so does Laura.”

“So no one’s coming?” Stiles asks, worried for Derek. His family kinda anchors him and Stiles tends to sympathize since his Dad is just as important to him. “That sucks, dude, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Stiles gives him a look. “Okay, it’s not fine. I’m gonna blow it and it’s gonna suck. But then it’ll be over.” Heather is the farthest thing from his mind.

“I’m sorry, dude,” Stiles says, arm twitching briefly like he’s gonna reach out to console Derek.

“It’s fine, really,” Derek says, wanting this conversation to be over. He’s not usually one for pity parties.

“Okay, okay,” Stiles rolls his eyes and picks his food back up. Derek gives him one last glance before doing the same.

***

When Derek wakes up the morning of his presentation, he groans and sinks further under the covers. He could never in a million years articulate how much he does not. want. to do this.

Somehow he peels himself out of his bed and gets himself to school, skipping breakfast and a shower (the former because of the nausea, the latter because of all the anticipated sweat).

Before he walks into class, he checks his phone. It’s silly, but he was hoping Stiles would send him some sort of ‘good luck’ text. He always knows how to ease Derek’s crazy nerves, how to put things into perspective, something Derek has always been terrible at. Of course there aren’t any texts waiting for him on his phone; it’s fucking early and it’s not like it’s Stiles’ job to have all of Derek’s commitments memorized. And it’s not like a text from his friend would change the fact that no one is coming to see the product of a shitton of work. He’s on his own today.

Derek tries to hold his head up as he walks into class, putting his stuff down by the window before going up to the front of the room to set up. Most of the students are there already, talking to each other quietly or frowning down at their phones. Extra desks have been crammed into the room to accommodate all the students. The small selection of coffee and donuts that his teacher sets out for any guests sits untouched on the back counter.

The bell rings and his classmates settle down.

Derek feels like the floor slowly slips from underneath him. He picks his hands up off the podium when his knuckles start to turn white and sees little pools of sweat where his palms just were. He blinks slowly and takes a deep breath.

“Sorry, sorry!” Someone whispers loudly from the door and quickly heads to the back of the class. Derek practically does a double take when he sees that it’s Stiles squeezing through the rows of desks with his backpack over his head.

“That’s all right, just settle down,” Derek’s teacher says from her desk. She gives a nod to Derek, telling him he can start. Instead, Derek looks to Stiles, who smiles brighter than ever and gives him two huge thumbs up.

Derek tries to suppress his grin. The floor is back where it’s supposed to be underneath him. His body temperature slowly creeps back down to normal human standards. He’s still shaking slightly, but now it’s a familiar shake. An excited, too-big-for-my-skin shake.

With that, Derek begins his presentation (and his eyes leave Stiles two or three times at most throughout).

***

After the rest of his morning classes--during all of which he smiled at inappropriate times when his mind drifted to how good of a friend Stiles is--Derek heads to lunch. He didn’t really get a chance to thank Stiles for coming since his teacher stole him away after his presentation, so he’s a little bummed when he remembers Stiles doesn’t have the same lunch as him on Fridays.

Derek walks into the cafeteria to find Scott and Lydia at their usual table. They smile when they spot Derek and he goes to sit down.

“Dude, how’d it go this morning?!” Scott asks, genuinely curious.

“Honestly… great. I mean, I didn’t vomit so it was definitely better than I expected.”

“And Stiles made it on time?” Scott says. Derek laughs lightly. Of course he knows that Stiles was planning to surprise him.

“Yeah--well, technically he was like 5 seconds late, but he made it. Probably the explanation for the lack of vomit, honestly.”

“Probably,” Lydia says before biting into her shiny, green apple.

Derek wants to question her tone, but Kira makes her way over to them and plops herself down next to Scott.

“Derek! How’d the big presentation go?” She asks before she even gets her backpack off.

“It was good,” Derek says while Kira takes a couple of Scott’s chips. “Stiles surprised me and showed up last minute, so… good, yeah.”

“Look at that,” Kira pops a chip into her mouth. “Derek aces his presentation, one or two freshwater fish live to see another day, it’s a win-win.”

Scott drops his head onto the table. Confused, Derek looks to Lydia, whose eyes are closed as she very subtly shakes her head back and forth.

“Uh… what?” Derek asks Kira. “What do fish have to do with my English grade?”

Kira grimaces and mutters _yikes_ under her breath when Scott sighs, sitting up.

“Stiles was supposed to do his annual father-son fishing trip this weekend,” Scott says. “He was gonna leave early this morning and miss school, but he decided to skip it this year.”

“Why?” Derek asks cautiously. Scott simply confirms his fear with a nod. “He canceled their fishing weekend just to see my presentation?”

Kira and Scott nod encouragingly.

Lydia, on the other hand, starts to say, “Well…”

Derek turns to her, his mind racing a mile a minute.

“Yes?”

“It’s not like he canceled his big family plans so he could sit in a crowded classroom and learn about _The Iliad_. He canceled for you, to make sure you did well.”

Derek blushes.

“I can’t believe he would do something like that…” Derek says to himself.

“I can,” Scott says. This time, it’s Kira who drops her head to the table. Lydia groans.

 

***

Friday night rolls around and Derek finds himself being the designated driver yet again. As he watches Scott, Kira, and Stiles tumble out of Scott’s front door, he doesn’t seem to mind. He doesn’t really like to get too fucked up, anyways. When they all walk into Lydia’s house to find Lydia and Allison making out on the couch, however, he rethinks his sobriety.

“Oh come _on_ ,” Scott whines. “You knew we were on our way!”

Lydia and Allison just look at each other. Lydia gives her girlfriend one more quick kiss before they both get up, adjusting their clothes.

“Uh,” Lydia fixes her hair and catches her breath. “Erica and Boyd and Isaac are picking up the drinks, they should be here any--” Lydia’s eyes wander to the window and she spots the car pulling up. “And they’re here.”

Once the drinks start flowing, Derek can basically see everyone’s stress lifting off their shoulders. It’s only been a couple weeks of Junior year and they’re all drowning already.

Derek gets himself a beer, hunts out a place to sit on the couch and sets up camp there for the rest of the night. He knows some people wouldn’t believe him, but he likes this. He likes watching, observing, quietly. Derek watches as his friends drink and talk and laugh and he has to refrain from clutching a hand to his heart. He loves them all so much. He thinks it probably has to do with being the middle child in a big family--loving every second of being surrounded by all the loud, obnoxious people in his life.

Just then, the couch dips significantly as Stiles drops down next to him, his potent drink almost sloshing out of his cup.

“What are you drinking? Nail polish remover?” Derek asks, grimacing.

“Hey!” Stiles punches his shoulder. “Just because I don’t unwind by sitting solemnly and staring at my friends, doesn’t make my method any less valid.” He takes a sip of his drink. Derek can’t help but smile at him.

“Touché.”

Stiles takes another sip and Derek watches the expanse of pale skin as Stiles tilts his head back to finish it off. He tracks the movement in Stiles’ throat as he swallows and unintentionally copies it. It’s not until Stiles puts his empty cup on the table that Derek realizes now is his moment. Scott may have insisted that Derek not tell Stiles what Kira let slip at lunch, but he needs to talk to him about it.

“Stiles,” Derek starts, swallowing again. “I know that you canceled your fishing trip with your dad.”

Stiles groans and immediately turns to Scott and yells across the room to him.

“Scott! Dude! You promised!”

“It wasn’t me, I swear! It was Kira!” Scott points to Kira standing next to him. She slaps his arm and practically Scott folds like a baby.

Stiles drops his head back onto the couch behind him and scrunches his face. He definitely wanted to avoid this conversation for whatever reason. Derek doesn’t care.

“Why would you do that?” Derek asks.

Stiles sits up and looks at Derek incredulously. “Seriously?”

“I mean, yeah, you’re my best friend, but still,” Derek fidgets. “You did _not_ have to do that.”

“I know I didn’t _have_ to, Derek,” Stiles lowers his voice. “But what else could I’ve done?”

“You could’ve wished me luck and then gone on your annual father-son trip!” Derek doesn’t know why he’s getting so worked up about this, it’s just that it felt like such a huge gesture. One that Derek didn’t deserve.

“Come on, Derek.”

“What!” Derek nearly drops his beer.

“Enough with your dismissive bullshit!”

Derek jerks his head back, a little surprised at the exclamation. He quickly scans the room, but everyone’s preoccupied. No one seems to care about what’s happening on the couch.

“What’re you talking about? I’m just saying. It wasn’t that important, you didn’t need to do that for me.”

“I _wanted_ to do that for you. Jesus christ, Derek, you’re my best friend and I love you, man! You needed someone there and I genuinely wanted to be that someone.” Stiles says it as if he were angry, but Derek knows he’s not. Alcohol mixed with Stiles’ overflowing love for the people in his life tends to get him all riled up. “It wasn’t an act of charity, I wasn’t acting out of obligation, I’m not harboring any anger towards you because I missed the opportunity to sit in a small boat with my dad and not shower for three days. You deserve to be supported, you deserved a fucking A+ on that presentation that you would never admit you poured your heart and fucking soul into. God, it’s like you are so fucking oblivious you--”

“Stiles,” Derek puts a hand on Stiles’ shoulder to stop him before he hurts himself. When Stiles stops his rant, Derek absentmindedly lets his hand run down Stiles’ back, slowly and lightly, until Stiles calms down a bit. He realizes what he’s doing and takes his hand away quickly, wrapping it safely around his beer. “Stiles. It was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me.” Stiles looks at him with a defeated sigh. “ Thank you.”

Stiles just reaches for the Fireball on the table and pours some into his glass, downing it quickly. He makes a face at the taste and then slams his cup back down.

“How about we just say you owe me one?”

Derek can’t help but smile.

“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

Stiles bites his lip. “Because I’m gonna save it. For something really good.” His eyes flick down to Derek’s mouth so quickly he almost misses it. Derek squirms a little in his seat, suddenly very hot. He clears his throat.

“Is Heather coming?” Derek asks, needing _anything_ to change the topic.

“No… why would she?”

“Lydia said she asked you out, so I figured…”

Understanding flashes across Stiles face suddenly, like he accessed a memory buried deep in his mind.

“Oh yeah, but no dude, I don’t have any interest in Heather. At all.”

“Got your eyes on someone else?”

Stiles grins. “Something like that.”

Derek can’t help but glance down quickly at Stiles’ smile. The memory of Stiles’ lips against his flashes through his mind and he feels like his stomach is growling, hungry for something he can’t quite put his finger on.

***

Someone puts on the terribly loud party playlist of songs they’ve accumulated over the years and Erica and Boyd are the first to pull their sweaty bodies to the center of the room and start dancing.

More of his friends join and Derek watches, laughing. He’s been keeping tabs on what Stiles is drinking, because he’s like that, so he’s knows that when Stiles comes over to him and pulls him up to dance, that Stiles is completely wasted.

Derek would hesitate more, but at this point he figures that his friends are drunk enough that no one cares what he’s doing or how dumb he looks doing it.

Derek catches himself having a good time, moving his body easily with the music, with Stiles’ body. He feels drunk on the heat and the contact, making his head fuzzy and his body more relaxed. He even sings along to a couple of the songs, laughs uproariously when Stiles does so too--loud, off-key, and just terrible.

Derek is swaying, lightweight and happy, until Stiles steps closer to him--like, a _lot_ closer--and syncs his side-to-side movement with Derek’s hips. He puts his hands on Derek’s shoulders and clamps down, like he’s scared Derek would try to move away. But trying to move never crosses Derek’s mind.

Stiles slides his leg in between Derek’s legs and shifts impossibly closer. He rests his forehead on Derek’s and lets his eyes flutter shut while his body stays alive.

Stiles’ hands start to leave Derek’s shoulders and explore his arms, his back and Derek feels all kinds of _hot_ all over and--

Stiles’ thigh just barely grazes Derek’s crotch and this immediately calls Derek’s attention to a _situation_ down south. He pulls away.

“Gotta pee,” Derek says over the music. Stiles pulls him back flush against his body.

“But we’re da-a-ancing,” Stiles says, his voice faltering and revealing just how intoxicated he really is. “I’m dancing with your bo-o-ody.” He punctuates this by sliding up and down Derek’s torso, twisting and squirming. When he ends up lower to the ground, briefly looking up at Derek through his eyelashes, Derek pushes Stiles off of him with an almost violent thrust.

Stiles slowly stands up straight and adjusts his clothes, giving Derek a calculating, almost sober look. Derek runs his fingers through his hair and laughs nervously.

“Yeah, I’ll… be right back.”

And with that, Derek runs out of Lydia’s living room. He’s on his way to the bathroom, but his feet take him outside instead--through the sliding glass door and onto a lounge chair by the edge of the Martin’s pool.

Derek’s body starts to return to its normal pacing--his heart slows down, his head stops spinning, his blood stops rushing south. He keeps his eyes on the pool where the moonlight is reflecting bright and steady on the water. He closes his eyes.

He feels the September night breeze cool the sweat pooling on his forehead and the light from the pool illuminating his face in the dark.

“Y’know, s’not safe to be by the pool drunk,” Stiles’ voice comes from behind him, startling his eyes open and forcing him to sit up straight. “Scooch over.” Stiles’ words come out like a verbal drunk text, but his body is steady as he lowers himself onto the vacant sliver of Derek’s chair.

They lie back in the limited space, Stiles’ shoulder stacked on top of Derek’s, Derek’s legs stretched out over Stiles’, and Derek can’t help but note that it’s not even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

“Sorry, I just…” Derek doesn’t know how to apologize for practically running away from Stiles since he doesn’t really know why he did it in the first place.

Derek turns his head to find Stiles’ face right up next to his own. Stiles’ breath is just as heavy as before, his own face and shirt are drenched in sweat. Derek opens his mouth again to try and form an excuse, but Stiles just looks at him. And Derek knows he gets it. Whatever _it_ is.

Stiles has that sort of superpower. He’s a person who talks and talks, a person whose mouth words can fall out of effortlessly, but Derek--not so much. Words are overwhelming for him, too complicated and too much, and Stiles has picked up on this over the years.

So sometimes they don’t need words. Stiles just looks at him, Derek just looks back and… and that’s that. Silence, but with so much more underneath.

“Derek?” Stiles asks, turning to look up at the stars.

“Yeah, buddy?” Derek watches as Stiles rolls his eyes at the nickname, and then promptly shuts them and tucks his face into Derek’s neck, like he’s trying to stop the world from spinning around him.

“Whaddya think the difference is between... loving someone and being in love with someone?”

Derek lets the question hang in the night air between them for a moment. He’s partially confused by it. Stiles thinks out loud a lot, most of the time asking questions Derek knows better than to try and answer them, but this is different.

“I don’t know, I… I think it depends on who’s doing the loving.”

“Okay, so pretend it’s you. Doing the loving.” Stiles lifts his head, cracks open one eye to make sure Derek isn’t laughing at him, and then looks up at the stars again.

Derek thinks. He thinks about the people in his life and he tries to find some words and tries to picture what it would be like to be in love. He steals a private glance at Stiles’ profile and all of a sudden he’s talking.

“I think that my heart has room to love a bunch of different people, like my friends and my family and whoever, but being in love with someone is more than loving them with just your heart.” Derek’s eyes wander down Stiles’ torso and to all the places their bodies are intertwined so easily. “I think you love them from all over. Your mind is always thinking about them, your hands always want to touch them, your feet, I don’t know.” A deep, shaky breath. “I think it takes your whole body to be in love with someone.”

Stiles is quiet for a beat too long. When Derek looks over, he can’t tell what’s sweat and what’s moonlight reflecting off of his face.

“That sounds like a lot of work,” Stiles says quietly.

“Yeah.”

He turns to meet Derek’s gaze. His eyes seem to dance all over Derek’s face, lingering on his lips.

“Yeah,” Derek says again, his own eyes locked on Stiles’ mouth this time.

And then a crash of some sorts comes from inside, jolting Derek back and away from Stiles’ face.

Derek laughs nervously and licks his lips while Stiles cards his fingers through his messy hair. They listen as sounds of Lydia yelling come from inside the house.

“Sounds like we’re being kicked out,” Derek says. Stiles smiles and starts to stand up, but doesn’t seem to have the strength. “Okay, okay, hold on, Bambi,” Derek laughs, standing up as well. He reaches down to help Stiles, who falters and just flings his arms around Derek’s shoulders. “You good to walk?”

“No,” Stiles says, but he starts to move towards the house with Derek grasped tightly to his side. “You gotta carry me.”

Derek laughs, feeling the heaviness of whatever the fuck just happened start to roll off his back.

“Seems like you got it,” he says.

When they get back inside, they find something expensive-looking shattered on the ground, Isaac blushing, Scott and Kira laughing, and Lydia fuming while Allison chases her around, trying to placate her.

Lydia kicks them all out within seconds.

***

Derek takes Scott and Kira and Stiles home to Scott’s house. The half beer Derek drank earlier that night never even affected him, but it still feels like he just sobered up after a night of being hammered. He chalks that up to the heat and the dancing and doesn’t indulge the feeling.

When they pull up to Scott’s house, Scott pats Derek on the shoulder from the backseat and Kira yells a “Thanks, D!” as they hop out of the car. But Stiles doesn’t get out with them.

“Are you gonna go inside?” Derek asks, confused.

Stiles smiles and laughs. He’s still very much under the influence--Derek can tell by the slowed reaction and the far out look in his eyes.

“No, I’m sleeping at your house. They’re totally gonna bone.”

Derek drops his jaw and watches as Scott pulls Kira into his house playfully, and Derek can almost hear Kira’s infectious laugh from inside the car.

“What?!” Derek is shocked. He’s not sure if it’s because his friends are fucking or because he didn’t notice. Again. “Aren’t they friends?”

“Aren’t we?” Stiles mumbles as he curls up in the seat. Derek’s mind flashes back to Boyd’s video of Stiles singing about Derek from the passenger of Boyd’s car. He thinks about it and then keeps thinking about it. The whole way home.

When they get to his house, Derek manages to get Stiles up and into his room without a sound, desperately not wanting to wake up his parents.

Stiles flops down onto Derek’s bed immediately, while Derek just shucks his coat and goes into his bathroom.

He fills a cup of water and brings it to Stiles.

“Up,” He says, kicking Stiles’ leg where it hangs over the side of his bed. Stiles moans, but sits up. “Drink.”

Stiles takes the plastic cup and downs the entire thing in two large gulps. When he gives the cup back to Derek, it almost seems like he purposefully lets his fingers linger on Derek’s.

“Can I have sm’clothes?” Stiles asks.

Derek nods and goes over to his dresser, pulling out one of his favorite Henleys. He doesn’t think twice before handing it over to Stiles.

Stiles starts to shuck his shirt where he’s sitting on the bed, and Derek immediately averts his eyes. For some reason, his brain says _bad bad bad_ to Stiles being shirtless, so he goes back over to his dresser and changes into a different shirt, ridding himself of his jeans. He heads back over in his boxers to get into bed and finds Stiles smiling a dopey smile.

“You good?”

Stiles simply responds, “Bedtime,” and crawls under Derek’s sheets. When Derek joins him, Stiles immediately scooches over to him and curls himself up against Derek’s chest. Derek’s first reaction is to freeze, but he then relaxes and feels Stiles breathe in deep and then mutter quietly.

“Mmmmm, smellslikeyou.” Derek huffs. “I like the way you smell.”

“I like the way you smell, too, Stiles,” Derek responds without thinking. The words are whispered into Stiles’ hair and feel much more intimate than he intended. His hand twitches, wanting to rub up and down Stiles’ back soothingly and he has to fight the urge.

Stiles mumbles into Derek’s shirt something that sounds like “Addicted to you.”

“What?” Derek tries to look down to Stiles to ask what he said, but Stiles is asleep. Derek finds his lips just grazing Stiles’ forehead. He feels his gut ache to press a simple kiss to Stiles’ pale skin. It’s _right there._ He wants to curl in closer, he wants _._ Derek feels his toes curl in and his muscles clench with want _._ He feels it all over his body, all over--

The realization hits him like two fucking tons of bricks. He feels like he schooled himself _._

_I think it takes your whole body to be in love with someone._

Derek’s own words from earlier that night play over and over in his head and each time he feels his arms clutching Stiles tighter and tighter.

Derek lets his arms relax as he says it loud and clear in his mind.

 _I’m in love with Stiles_.

He doesn’t get much sleep that night.

***

Derek wakes up to his shower running and an empty, Stiles-less bed. The shirt Derek lent Stiles is on a pool on the floor along with Stiles’ boxers and Derek’s mind is flooded with _naked Stiles is naked Stiles is naked in my shower naked_.

All of a sudden, Stiles is waltzing back into the room with a towel hanging low around his waist.

“Well, good morning, sleeping beauty,” Stiles teases from the doorway, hands on his hips.

Derek uses all of his willpower not to let his eyes linger too long on Stiles’ chest. Stiles’ chest that’s _really_ filled out since they met freshman year and _how had Derek not noticed?_

“Uh, what time is it?” Derek asks, his voice groggy from a sleepless night.

“8:30, I gotta get home before my dad wakes up,” Stiles tells him as he searches the ground for his clothes.

Derek watches as Stiles pulls on Derek’s henley, followed by his own boxers and then his jeans and from where Derek is lying in bed, it all feels very _the morning after._ The morning after crazy hot sex and any second now Stiles is gonna lean over the bed and kiss Derek sweetly goodbye before murmuring _text you later_ into his lips and Derek will shamelessly watch Stiles’ ass as he leaves.

One of those things actually ends up happening (it’s the last one).

***


End file.
